PhD, Associate Professor A.A. Tretyakov¹
PhD, Associate Professor G.L. Nesterenko¹
M.S. Koreneva¹
P.P. Kondratenko^1
1Belgorod State National Research University, Belgorod

Keywords: sports training, biological rhythms, individualization, competitive progress, elite athletes, kettlebell lifting sport.

Background. Growing competitiveness of the modern sports expose the athletes to hard training and competitive workloads and stresses – which, as reported by a number of studies, may undermine immunity of the sports elite and trigger sports-related diseases [6] considered inevitable by many experts [5]. This is the reason why the sport research community gives a special priority to the physical, mental and competitive fitness tests and analyses to prevent risks for the athletes’ working capacity and health standards [1, 2]. Long-term studies of the individual competitive progresses of the sports elite have found certain biological regularities determined by two- and three-year biological rhythms in females and males, respectively [4, 3]. It generally means that competitive progress peaks are normally achieved once in two and three years by the female and male athletes, respectively [7].

Objective of the study was to analyze an individual competitive progress versus biorhythmic cycles of an elite kettlebell lifter (Honored Master of Sport).

Methods and structure of the study. We made the 7-year competitive progress analysis for the top-ranking competitive events (World and Russian Championships), with the event place, date and competitive success fixed and compared with the relevant biorhythm data calculated using the relevant online service tools.

Results and discussion. Given in Tables 1 and 2 hereunder are the competitive progress data of the elite kettlebell lifter who was 19 years old when made his first success in the 2012 Russian Kettlebell Lifting Sport Championship. The study found a three-year cycle in his competitive progress, with the athlete’s competitive progress peaks fixed at 19, 22, 25 and 28 years of age.

Table 1. Competitive progress statistics of the elite kettlebell lifting

The above Table gives the individual progress data in the Russian Championships. Since the places were different, the time zones were also different in a few cases, with the relevant complications for the precompetitive training cycles and competitive performance. Note that the athlete made a persistent smooth progress since 2012, with the progress somewhat stabilized for the last few years. The athlete has been successful in getting fit for every event despite the biorhythm variations. As far as the progress in the World Championships is concerned, the competitive progress was obviously cyclic, with the peak (world record) achieved in 2014 in Germany. The interviewed athlete reported being highly mentally fit for the event – he said that he neared the weight “as if it was the last try”. The second individual best was made in 2017 in South Korea in the first attempt. The athlete, however, mentioned in the interview that he fell ill a week before with fever, cough and runny nose; although managed to cope with every sign of illness by the due date.

We analyzed the competitive performance versus the biological rhythm: see Figures 1, 2. Figure 1 gives the biorhythm variations in 2012, 2014 and 2017, with indications of the World Championship dates, and with the biological rhythms classified into physical (red line), intellectual (blue line) and emotional (green line).

Figure 1. Biorhythm variations in the 2012-17 World Championships

The top diagram shows the biorhythm variations for the 2012 World Championship in Latvia. Note that the physical and intellectual biorhythms were relatively high in the first top-ranking event when the athlete sensationally made a world record and won gold. The middle diagram gives the biorhythm variations for the 2014 World Championship in Germany when the physical biorhythm was high enough – that is indicative of good working capacity and fitness. The Intellectual biorhythm was on the fall although still high enough; and the emotional biorhythm was on the rise albeit still in the lowest point. And the lower diagram gives the biorhythm variations for the 2017 World Championship in South Korea. The physical biorhythm was on the fall, and no wonder the athlete was sick at that time; the intellectual biorhythm was on the fall close to the zero point; and the emotional biorhythm was also low although on the rise.

Given on Figure 2 are the biorhythm variations in the Russian Championships. We highlighted 2012 as the startup year, 2015 when the athlete made progress and 2017 as the peak time in the three-year cycle. The top two diagrams show the physical biorhythms on the fall albeit high and moderate, respectively; whilst the emotional biorhythm was low and on the fall. And the lowest diagram – that refers to the top success period – shows the physical and intellectual biorhythms in the lowest points, whilst the emotional biorhythm was on the peak. This was the reason for the athlete to succeed in the 2017 event despite the low physical biorhythm.

Figure 2. Biorhythm variations in the 2012-17 Russian Championships

The success could be due to the good design and management of the training system, mental conditioning and sound competitive experience. It should be noted that this was the third year when the biorhythm reached the peaking values.

Conclusion. Competitive success may be interpreted as a specific product that includes a few constituents – with their interrelations still underexplored as yet. It may be beneficial to have integrated efforts in every relevant science to find the best ways for competitive successes. The study data and analyses provide only a first indication of the individual biorhythmic cycles being one of the factors need to be taken into consideration by the training system designers, since these cycles correlate with the ups and downs, plateaus and peaks in the competitive performances – as demonstrated by our case study. The individual biorhythm cycles are strongly recommended being taken into account by the individual training systems.

References

1. Koryagina Yu.V., Ter-Akopov G.N., Nopin S.V., Roguleva L.G. Biorhythms in sports: research and analysis methods: Methodical recommendations. Essentuki, 2017. 32 p.
2. Koryagina Yu.V., Ter-Akopov G.N. Chronobiological characteristics of athletes at various physical loads, training cycles and environmental conditions. Lechebnaya fizkultura i sportivnaya meditsina. 2017. No. 5 (143). pp. 29-33.
3. Koryagina Yu.V. Sports chronobiology: problems and prospects. Lechebnaya fizkultura i sportivnaya meditsina. 2014. No. 3 (123). pp. 38-43.
4. Kulinenkov O.S. Elite sports medicine. Moscow, 2016. 320 p.
5. Poluyan A.V., Kovtunenko L.V., Kolesnichenko N.A. Correlation of human biological rhythms with physical development rates and sports results. Kultura fizicheskaya i zdorovye. 2019. No. 3 (71). pp. 92-94.
6. Rapoport S.I., Chibisov S.M., Blagonravova M.L. Chronobiology and chronomedicine. Moscow, 2018. pp. 9-38.
7. Sokolova V.S., Dvornikov P.A. Biorhythms and their influence on effectiveness of training process and competitive results of biathletes. Sovremennye problem nauki i obrazovaniya. 2015. No. 4. pp. 143-147.

Corresponding author: nikulin_i@bsu.edu.ru

Abstract

Objective of the present study was to determine the relationship between the competitive activity of elite kettlebell lifters and their biological rhythms.

Methods and structure of the study. We analyzed the biological rhythms and competitive success rates of the Honored Master of Sport of the Russian Federation in kettlebell lifting. We studied the results of the top-ranking competitions (Russian and World championships) held during the last 7 years. The subject's biological rhythms were determined using an Internet service.

Results and conclusions. Competitive progress data of the elite kettlebell lifter revealed that he was 19 years old when he made his first success in the 2012 Russian Kettlebell Lifting Sport Championship. The study found a three-year cycle in his competitive progress, with the athlete’s competitive progress peaks fixed at 19, 22, 25 and 28 years of age.

During the pre-competitive and competitive activities, the changes were more of a complex nature. The analysis of the results achieved since 2012 showed a smooth growth. However, , sports results have been stabilized in recent years. Despite the change in the biological rhythms, the athlete was competent in preparing for these competitions and demonstrated a high sports result. We identified individual features of biological rhythms in the athlete. The data presented in the article reflect part of the information proving the existing periodicity in man. The cycles reviewed reflect downturns, upswings, stabilization, and achievement of the high competitive results. The selected example confirms these patterns. It is important that the observed patterns are taken into account when individualizing the athletic training process.